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Vigilance Bulletin No. 47, July 19, 2010
1) Kevin Rudd out, Julia Gillard in . . . and only the mining companies win Kevin Rudd out, Julia Gillard in . . . and only the mining companies win The leader of a wealthy parliamentary democracy is undermined by a multi-million dollar campaign run by multinational corporations. That leader is then ousted by party colleagues in a parliamentary coup. Once in power, the new leader quickly moves to agree to the demands of the multinationals. No, this is not the left-wing script for a Michael Moore movie. This is exactly what happened in Canberra last month. The mining company’s campaign against Kevin Rudd’s mining tax saw the Labor Party remove Rudd as Prime Minister and then replace him with Julia Gillard. The ALP’s right-wing faction heavies and the union leaders that ousted Rudd on June 24 made a lot of noise about how his leadership style was undermining Labor’s chances of re-election. But this was all just talk. The Sydney Morning Herald spelled out the real reason for Rudd’s removal the day after the coup. It said that “mining tycoons have claimed much of the credit for Kevin Rudd’s downfall, saying the industry-led opposition to the resources tax was the main reason for the leadership coup”. Once in power, Gillard moved quickly to buy peace with the miners. Within days she had met with the heads of the three biggest mining multinationals – BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata – and struck a deal. Rudd’s 40 percent tax was reduced to an effective tax rate of 22.5 percent. This deal will see expected tax revenues over the next two years fall from $12 billion to $4.5 billion. If there is one thing that the events of the last few weeks have highlighted, it is the fraudulent nature of modern-day parliamentary democracy. The real economic and political power in society does not reside in parliament. Parliamentary democracy is nothing but a rotten facade. Behind this facade are the powerful corporate and financial interests that determine the economic and political agenda. These people will stop at nothing to protect their interests when they feel they are threatened. Mining profits were never in danger According to the mining bosses, their profits were in danger of collapsing if Rudd’s mining tax was given the go ahead. This is rubbish. Mining profits increased from $40 billion in 2008 to a massive $91 billion in 2009. Rudd’s resource tax would have collected $12 billion over two years – and left the bulk of the miners’ super-profits untouched. In the last year, Australian mining bosses increased their personal wealth by $9 billion. Iron ore magnate Gina Rinehart’s wealth went from $3.47 to $4.75 billion, while that of Fortescue Metal’s Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest jumped from $2.38 to $4.24 billion. Rudd’s mining tax would have still left these parasites with plenty. Yet these people – some of the richest in the country – had the nerve to cry poor. It’s enough to make you sick. Parliament was not the only forum where democracy was found to be limited. Democracy in the Labor Party was also placed under the spotlight. Out of the tens of thousands of card-carrying ALP members across the country, the only ones involved in the replacement of Kevin Rudd were 100-odd Federal Labor MP’s and Senators. Many unions – including the MUA – are affiliated to the Labor Party. They should make this affiliation count. Unions should demand that Labor leaders be elected by the whole of the party membership and its affiliated unions – and not just left in the hands of the ALP’s parliamentary caucus. European workers fight austerity measures The economic crisis sweeping Europe has seen a number of governments introduce savage budget cuts. These harsh austerity measures have spurred workers in Spain, France, Italy and Greece into action. On June 8 over two million Spanish workers stopped work in protest at government plans to cut public service wages by five percent. French government plans to attack pensions and raise the age of retirement saw two million people take to the streets on June 24. The next day, Italy was paralysed by a four-hour general strike. On June 29, Greece was brought to a halt by the country’s fifth one-day general strike this year. The target was the pension reform bill which plans to increase the retirement age. Workers across Europe are refusing to pay for this economic crisis and they are fighting back. US Longshore workers blockade Israeli ship On June 20, an Israeli Zim line ship docked in Oakland on the U.S. West Coast was blockaded for 24 hours. This action was in response to the Israeli army’s May 31 attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla that left nine people dead and dozens injured. The blockade began after 800 Palestinian solidarity activists picketed the port. Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 refused to cross the picket lines. Health and safety provisions in the ILWU contract allow unionists to do this without facing any disciplinary measures. The picket caused the Israeli ship to lay idle for 24 hours. The Oakland blockade was the first victorious boycott against Israel in the U.S. and follows similar recent actions in Sweden and South Africa. POAGS Melbourne death leads to 24hr stoppage On the morning of July 14, Steve Piper was killed at P&O Automotive and General Stevedoring (POAGS) Appleton Dock, Melbourne. By midday, work at all 15 POAGS ports had shut down for 24 hours. The 41 year old father of two was crushed to death when a three tonne lifting beam fell on top of him. Piper is the third wharfie to be killed on the job this year. Brad Gray died at Brisbane POAGS on February 20 and Nick Fanos was killed at Patrick Port Botany on March 28. Piper’s death is also the third fatality at Appleton Dock in seven years. The MUA has for months been pushing for the Labor government to establish a National Stevedoring Code of Practice. Industrial action like the 24 hour stoppage across POAGS sites is the way to achieve it. We need to build on the momentum of the July 14 stoppage in order to win this Code of Practice. A national stoppage across the whole stevedoring industry must be organised ASAP. DP World Botany Labour Review finalised The long running labour review at DP World Botany has been finalised. On June 16, MUA members voted in favour of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that offers 24 new permanent jobs and a new roster for 48 operations employees. Despite opposition to the MOA’s linking of 24 GWE to VSE upgrades to various productivity benchmarks, the vote in favour was overwhelming. But not all has gone to plan. To date, not enough permanents have volunteered to switch to the new roster. Whether this drawn-out saga solves DPW’s weekend labour shortage or not remains to be seen. Management at DP World Botany are now threatening disciplinary action against anyone who loads the wrong container onto a truck. In a June 30 memo, the Botany terminal’s new Operations Manager states that the first half of 2010 has seen containers incorrectly loaded onto trucks 195 times across DPW’s five Australian terminals – a little over one a day on average. Let’s get this straight. Thousands of containers pass through DP World gates every single day of the year. This sounds like a bad joke. The company constantly stuffs up our pays, our shift allocations, our holidays – yet those responsible for these mistakes are never threatened in this way. We should not be threatened with disciplinary action for making nothing more than an honest mistake. Ex-Sydney Ferries boss: corrupt AND bankrupt Last year Geoff Smith, the former boss of Sydney Ferries, was forced to resign after he was caught misusing his corporate credit card. Now he has filed for bankruptcy. Smith will now no longer have to pay back more than $100,000 of the $237,000 he spent on everything from furniture and theatre tickets to private school fees and holidays. For Sydney’s ferry workers, Smith’s bankruptcy adds insult to injury. The NSW Labor government paid Smith $350,000 a year while they threatened ferry workers with privatisation and kept wage rises at or below 2.5% a year. Now the government will miss out on over $100,000 that Smith should have paid back – money that could have helped to pay for higher wages and a better ferry service. |
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